Forum Replies Created

Bottas has a tendency to be beaten by Massa at the exact GP when he should be putting in some very clinical performances. In a way he’s in a team towards the top and he hasn’t been able to capitalize on it. Maybe he’s just unlucky.

Unfortunately, that might be the case for Nico Hulkenberg and it really, really pains me to see him not get the opportunity to show the world if he can meet those expectations – many in the past have failed.

I’ve never felt that a driver deserved a top ride as much as he does – certainly more than JEV, Kamui, Checo, Sutil, Magnussen.

IMO even more so that Ricciardo and Valtteri. F1 is a very cruel sport.

@davidnotcoulthard Yes but I doubt Vettel would have said yes had Red Bull not let him down last year. Sure Seb’s bad luck and Daniel are as much to blame as Horner but you don’t ask the driver that has won you 4 championships to let the other driver by more than once. You simply don’t – you owe him that much. You back your winning horse and Seb has been that for Red Bull. Christian created the dynamic for Seb to leave and he seemed sort of ok with it when Seb told him he’s leaving – he never said that “I’ll do anything I can to keep Seb – as far as I’m concerned he’s Red Bull. He’s not going anywhere” That might have made Seb stay for a few more years – after all, Scuderia Ferrari would have come a-knocking again for such a talented driver.

I was checking Wikipedia’s long list of F1 Driver’s records and the 2 are so close – I think they both realize the difference between them is defined more by the car than their abilities. However, the win at Austin was very impressive by Lewis over Seb but it could have also gone the other way. They are both very special drivers – in a way they are almost like the Ronaldo and Messi of F1 and we can just sit back and enjoy this.

So foolish of McLaren and Red Bull to “alienate” both drivers. There’s no doubt when Ron Dennis and Christian Horner look back this will be one of their greatest mistakes in both their illustrious careers.

Let’s look at the drivers. We know that drivers like Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel, Rosberg makes tens of millions per year as other top athletes in other sports do. But what about drivers like Hulkenberg, Perez, Bottas, Bianchi, Sutil? Are they fairly compensated?

Let’s look at the constructors. I’d be very surprised if teams like Sauber (in the past) or Force India are turning a reasonable profit on the investment. Even if they make 5-10 million (pounds/euros/dollars) profit, it’s still a paltry return on the hundreds of millions that must have been invested and those profits are usually offset by losses in seasons just like Sauber will be facing this year. Ferrari might turn an acceptable profit in F1 but that’s also questionable given that they have to invest more heavily to compete at the top. I suspect McLaren was able to be profitable through their Vodafone deal and other deals in the past.

This is further evidenced by the fact that teams drop out after a few seasons obviously since they don’t receive enough money to compete from F1 even as the last team. They run out of money 2/3s into the season.

Engine manufacturers must look to break even. They are in it for the glory and for the technical expertise that they can use in their cars or hypercars.

Then we have the race promoters and I’ve never read an article where race promoters claimed to have made like a bandit in hosting a F1 race. The circuits are incredibly expensive and I’m sure for every penny they make they pay as much to Bernie.

We all know Bernie and CVC must make crazy money and that has to be the case because no one else seems to make any money.

Does anyone know what other agencies there are? What does the FIA make?

This sport is beyond expensive in terms of attending a race and in terms of watching it which begs the question of why on earth aren’t most participants turning a healthy profit in the sport? That is what needs to change in F1 more so than the regulations.

If 1KG = 0.1 seconds per lap well that means that Lewis had a 0.3 second handicap at the end of the race just from extra fuel.

I still don’t understand why he had more fuel – he started from pole so you’d expect him to start with no more fuel than Nico. Both cars were expected to not be fighting for position much.

I’m surprised no one has provided a theory yet on the F1Fanatic forum. Obviously Mercedes needs to look into this because the last thing they want is Rosberg on quicker rubber and a lighter car at the end of the race…

I think Vettel and Senna would ram that car in a heartbeat especially if the championship was on the line and I think Lewis would be fully justified in doing so if it happens a 3rd time.

For performance to be equal, Lewis would have had to start with 2-3 kgs less fuel. I do recall Will Buxton saying that Lewis had more fuel so he could theoretically use that to hold off Rosberg as long as Lewis didn’t exceed the fuel usage threshold as Daniel had in Australia.

How would he have known that or was he simply assuming that both Merc drivers started with the same amount of fuel?

As you guys correctly pointed out, I deleted the race so I can’t go back and see what they showed us but I do recall the amount of fuel used going up while they displayed those statistics on the screen. That means that it’s definitely real-time and since it was going up it would have had to be amount used, not remaining which would have gone down as the race progressed.

Using 2-3kgs less fuel in a race while being in the lead and quickest car while your teammate is driving under similar conditions is very strange, at least to me. That’s a 5% fuel saving while you’re trying to go as fast as you possibly can – is that even possible?

What could possibly account for that lower usage? Is it the way that Lewis drives? Is he maxing the ERS and therefore using less fuel? Is Nico trying hard to catch up and using more fuel?

@jamiefranklinf1
No doubt Alonso made a contribution in 2007as did Hamilton. As for Vettel it’s indisputable that RB would not be where it is without Vettel.

Double diffiuser in 2009 and tyres for PM in 2012.

I may even venture that Hamilton is very teammate friendly in the sense that his teammates seem to benefit from his presence on a team and he “elevates” their performance. I’m not sure if he gets much benefit or if his own performance is elevated by his teammates. His struggles with Alonso, Button as well as Rosberg’s antics on the track this year suggest the opposite.